Northern Governors Wives meet in Abuja to tackle drug abuse menace

The pandemic, which has pushed millions into poverty and unemployment worldwide, has also led more people to drug use, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has warned. Low-income countries are at highest risk.

The bullet-ridden bodies of the cartel members were discovered in the north-central state of Zacatecas. Earlier this week, two missing police officers were found hanging from a bridge in the same area.

Her friends and family tell her to pack up and flee Afghanistan without waiting for the possible return of the Taliban, but sitting on a terrace, smoking a cigarette, Laila Haidari - founder of a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts - is determined to stay.

The remains of Filipinos killed in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war are starting to be exhumed as the leases on their graves expire and poor families struggle to renew the contracts.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Thursday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Thursday.⁣⁣

Moments before tying the knot, a suspected member of the 'Clan del Golfo' drug cartel is arrested at his wedding in a church in Antioquia, Colombia. Luis Daniel Santana, alias 'Machete', has been wanted by authorities since 2017 and had allegedly been avoiding them in the mountains of Antioquia, but intelligence officers determined that the 24-year-old would come out of hiding to attend his wedding.

August 30 marks International Day of the Disappeared. In Mexico, thousands of people vanish every year. Relatives and human rights activists accuse the state of failing to act.

The suspects reportedly forced children as young as 10 to take money from drug buyers. The authorities also arrested several women with Mafia links.

Libya's Interior Ministry said hundreds of migrants were detained in "anti-drug" raids. Rights groups expressed concern over the mass detentions that includes women and children.

Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo, an arch-rival of President Rodrigo Duterte and staunch critic of his deadly drug war, said Thursday she will run for the top job, becoming the leading opposition candidate in a crowded election field.

The head of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohammed Buba Marwa, is proposing a mandatory drug test for persons intending to get married. In the opinion of the retired army general, compulsory drug tests for intending couples will reduce the prevalence of drug abuse in Nigeria. GuardianTV went to the Federal Marriage Registry, in Ikoyi, Lagos, to sample the opinion of Nigerians – including a few recently wed – on how they feel about Marwa’s proposal.

Today's Focus takes us to Kinshasa, DRC's sprawling capital city, where growing addiction to "bombé," a new artisanal drug, is rattling authorities. The lethargy-inducing mixture is made of crushed pills (often opioids but composition varies) and chemical residue that's been filtered through exhaust pipes.